Anti-gay wingnuts always bristle and protest at being called “homophobes.” It bothers them, because “phobes” are scared of things, and Real ‘Murkan Men aren’t scared of things! Amanda Marcotte tackled this the other day in writing about the super crazy positions held by Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle’s erstwhile political party, the Independent American Party:
TPM reported on Sharron Angle’s affiliation with the Independent American Party, which TPM describes as “Christian conservative-cum-libertarian”, which is wingnut-ese for a co-commitment to patriarchy and white domination. Unsurprisingly, these are folks with high level fears of contamination from all sorts of scary Others. And they aren’t afraid to advertise it!
Independent American Party supporters could buy “Homophobia – No | Homonausea – Yes” bumper stickers for the special low price of $1.
To you or I, this may seem like a distinction without difference. But this is a very big deal for the Real American Men of the wingnutteria. To suggest that they experience “homophobia” is to suggest that they experience fear, and that is basically saying they aren’t men, but 6 foot tall vaginas with legs. So that breathless hysteria about homosexuality they express that looks exactly like fear is totally not fear.
To digress a bit, this mentality is basically an inescapable trap. When you fear being exposed as someone who has fears because this makes you less of a man, you’re in a constant state of fear, i.e. non-manhood. Which you have to desperately cover up, which creates more fearful behavior that you have to cover up. It’s a vicious cycle.
Watching homophobic men react to being called “homophobes” is usually pretty funny, actually. They get their backs up and protest just a little bit too much. Meanwhile, witnessing the hysteria over DADT repeal, with wingnuts from all corners screaming “BUT THE SHOWERS!” with their hands over their crotches, has been a pretty good lesson in the very real fears involved in homophobia.
Also revelatory? Lou Engle recounting the nightmares his son had about three story homosexuals. And so on. Of course it’s fear. It’s deranged, cornered, shivering under the covers because the Village People are having a reunion tour in the closet sort of fear.
I just don’t get it, and none of the straight people I know get it either, but then again, we’re all secure in our sexuality. Is it wrong that I find it funny?
Evan wrote, “Watching homophobic men react to being called “homophobes” is usually pretty funny, actually.”
And one of the fun things is speculating on who will be the next one caught with their pants down, like George Rekers and many others.
For many of the “homophobes” the biggest part of the phobia is their fear of having themselves suspected of homosexual tendencies. So while they continue trying to burnish their hetero credentials, they seem oblivious to the mounting evidence that rabid homophobes are more likely, rather than less likely, to be homosexual themselves. And that’s pretty funny.
I’ve often said that homophobia is not the fear of homosexuals, but the fear that you, yourself, might be homosexual.
So now we have three categories:
1) heterosexists– we’re the only ones that matter, and we’re so frightened of giving you what we have lest we find out we’re not the only ones that matter that we HAVE to hate you
2) homobigots– we hate you, we’re not afraid of you. Refreshingly honest, in a disingenuous sort of a way
3) homophobes—- AIEEEEEEEEEEEEE! The mo’s are coming. The ‘mo’s are coming. whoops, they’re already here.
I vote or being inclusive: we’ll call all of them homobigots.
3) homophobes–
I like homobigot. I thought “libertarians” wanted the govt out of our lives? I know it’s always been b.s., since we’re doing these names how about “liberhypocrites”.
We could call them a******s, but I vote for homophobes, not only because it’s accurate, but also *because* they hate it. I’ve known a few gays who had heteronausea. Maybe we can break them down into twatophobes for the guys and shvantzophobes for our lesbian sisters. hahaha
Gary, I think its schwantz, not shvantz.
i know, it means ‘tail’ in german, but the yiddish is usually spelled with the v so americans will pronounce it correctly. ;-)
Very interesting. I’ve never heard it pronounced with a v.
That’s becuase ‘Murcans don’t like to pronounce foreignish words the way people who actually pronounce those words might pronounce them. That’s why you can go to Wacky-ki in Hawhy, or kiss Parisssss Hilton on the Champs (rhymes with camps) El-ay-zezzzzzzzzzzz if you’ve a mind.
But Ben, I’m Canadian.
MY question is how can you tell when a 3-story-tall person is a homosexual?
Was he looking up his shorts and spotted a cock ring?
Did he see “Donna Summer” and “Diana Ross” on his porta-potty-sized iPod?
If somebody THAT damn tall was walking my way, I’d be more worried about getting the hell outta their way than worrying about what sexuality he is.
What kind of an excuse is that?